Internal combustion engine



March 3, 193 6. 5, u s 2,032,495

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed June 29, 1935 Patented Mar. 3, 1936 UNITED STATES INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Gerard Nuesell, Brooklyn, N. Y. Y Application June 29, 1935, Serial No. 29,009

6 Claims.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines of the cam type, for instance, as disclosed in my Patent No. 1,648,780, issued November 8th, 1927.

In my previous patent, I employed a cam acting between two engines and the .drive shaft in such a manner that the speed of the drive shaft was one-half of what it would otherwise be; in other words, with four cycle engines, the drive shaft would make one rotation for every complete cycle of two reciprocations of the engine. This arrangement resulted in various advantages, among which may be mentioned that the crank shaft, cam shafts, fly wheel and various gears can be eliminated, resulting in a smoother running motor, with reduced vibration, and hence permitting the employment of higher piston speeds, and greatly increased life of the associated p'arts. However, the arrangement described in said patent resulted in' the production of a substantial amount of friction because of the employment of a positive type of cam, and while a roller was in coaction with said cam, yet there was nothing to relieve the roller for free running engagement with the cam. I

Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to produce a novel device of the type mentioned which shall avoid the friction that obtained in my previous motor.

Another object of the invention is to take up the momentum of the piston by improved means that avoid shock on the drive shaft.

Another object of the invention is to produce a device of the type mentioned having relatively few and simple parts, and which is comparatively simple to manufacture and assemble, durable,

reliable and efficient to a high degree. 7

Other objects and advantages of theinvention will become apparent as thespecification proceeds.

With the aforesaid objects in view, the invention consists in the novel combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described in their preferred embodiments, pointed out in the subjoined claims, and illustrated in the annexed drawing, wherein like parts fare designated by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view of adevice embodying the invention with parts in elevation and parts in section taken approximately on the broken line |--l of Fig. '2. 1

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, with parts removed.

The advantages of theinvention as here'outlined are best realized when all of its features and instrumentalities. are combined in one and the same structure, but, useful devices may be produced embodying less than the whole.

, 5 It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to whichv the invention appertains, that the same may be incorporated in several different constructions. The accompanying drawing, therefore, is submitted merely as showing the preferred exemplification of the invention.

Referring in detail to the drawing, [0 denotes to the strain that would be'caused thereon by the said flying up of the piston. An incidental result is that a positive or grooved type of cam need not be used; however,should a positive type of cam be neverthelessemployed, the roller will engage only one face of the cam or groove, and the-one face of the groove may supply a safety factor for confining the roller or an associated roller under unusual conditions of stress, wear zor yield of parts. r

The device l0 may include a pair of cylinders ll, I2 disposed at right angles to each other to afford a v-type motor. The two cylinders are identical with each other, each having a-wa'ter jacket l3, and both opening into a single crank case M within which the drive shaft I5 is jour-' naled for rotation. Fixed to the shaft I5 is an 8 shaped or duplex cam l6 havinga cam face or peripheral track I1.

Slidable within each cylinder is a piston IS, a piston rod 2| being connected thereto for sliding motion in alinement to the piston through a cross bar 20 rigidly affixed to the cylinder. The

free end of the piston rod carries a bearing element or yoke 22 in which is positioned a", roller 23 that is mounted on a shaft 23a journaled in the yoke.

A single cam l6 may coact with both cylinders I I and I2, because the latter are at degrees to each other, and at an instant when the piston 1 of onecylinder is engaged with a high point of the cam, the piston of the other cylinder is engaged with a low point of the'cam, so that relatively continuous power is supplied to the drive shaft l5 with the momentum of the parts carrying beyond dead center points. For maintaining the rollers 23 in engagement with the cam I 6, separate means are employedfor each cylinder, because the rollers are always in positions different from each other, and compactness is desired together with simple anddirect stresses.

Thus the drive shaft l5 may have a plurality of gears 24 affixedthereto at points spaced on opposite sides of the cam l6. Meshing with the teeth of each gear 24 is a pinion 25 connected to its individual crank shaft 26 'ournaled in bracket arms 21 of the crank case or other frame. A connecting rod 28 interconnects each crank shaft 26 with the shaft 23a of a roller 23. It will be seen that each roller 23 and its pinion 25 have axes lying in a plane that intersects the common axis of the gears 24; in other words, the pinions 25 are spaced 98 degrees apart and each is at an opposite side of the drive shaft relative to its corresponding piston. Consequently, each connecting rod 28 is desirably curved as shown in Fig. 1 to clear the drive shaft l5. This arrangement is shown illustratively, but it has an advantage in that when the piston flies upward, as shown in the cylinder l2, there is a simple pull exerted on the crank shaft 26 by the connecting rod 28. Likewise when a piston flies downward as shown in the cylinder II, the connecting rod 28 may, if desired, act in simple compression to cause the crank shaft to assume a part of the shock that would otherwise be completely imparted to the drive shaft I 5 at the point of lowermost travel of the piston.

If required, the connecting rod 28, though preferably perfectly rigid, may possess a degree of resilience or may have the capacity of taking a slight deflection, especially because of the curved shape thereof, instead of being wholly rigid, to thus better assume the stresses caused by the piston in limiting the movement of the latter at the ends of its path of travel. Now, when a piston flies upward, the momentum thereof may be taken up in a cushioning manner by the rod 28, that may be initially tensioned to cause the roller 23 to bear against the cam. When the piston flies downward the innermost sections of the cam, as at 29 may be recessed sufficiently to cause the rod 28 to take up the stress, especially as little or no power is transmitted to the cam I 6 at the innermost points referred to. In other words, the track l1 may be out further inward at 28 than otherwise, so that the roller bearing pressure againstthe cam may be reduced as the transmission of power to the cam is reduced below a required operating efliciency. The arrangement will be such that the roller 23 will always be in contact with the cam.

Each cylinder may have an intake manifold at 38 and an exhaust manifold 3 I, controlled respectively by inlet and exhaust valves 32, 33. Valve stems 34 are upwardly slidably actuable by the cams 35, 36 fixed on the. drive shaft l5, and expansion coil springs 31 tend to cause downward closing movement of the valves. Other cams 38, 38 are similarly mounted on the drive shaft and actuate slidable rods 48, against the action of compression coil springs 4|, for causing upward movement of the separate arms 42 that are pivotally mounted at 43, to effect contact with the stationary contacts 44, 45 for the respective spark plugs 46, 41 of the different cylinders, according to the angular positions of the corresponding cams 38,38. It is seen that all of the cams 35, 36,

38, and 38 may consist substantially of discs concentric with the drive shaft l5, and each having a small peripheralraised portion 48a, shown in Fig. l. The different followers 34 and 40 may have rollers for their cams. Each of these cams makes one rotation for every two reciprocations of the four cycle engine; hence timing gears are unnecessary.

The construction and operation of the invention is in all respects similar to that described in my Patent No. 1,648,780, except that the parts 24 to 28 are new and hence it will be sufficient to limit the description to these parts. I am aware that it has been proposed to use a beam for maintaining the rollers of the drive shaft cam in engagement with the latter, and where both pistons were connected to the beam, the momenta of the outward and inward flying .pistons were additively imparted by the beam and rollers to the drive shaft. By my invention the momentum of each piston is separately taken up by the frame on which the engine may be mounted and in any event without the shock or impact on the drive shaft that necessarily resulted in the use of prior .devices. The gears 24, 25 do not transmit any particular amount of torque and hence are subject to little or no strain and wear, and in fact, the piston aids in rotating the crank shaft 26, so that the gears 24, 25 merely serve as idler timing gears, the stress on the connecting rods 28 being taken up by the crank shafts 26. The construction and action is exactly the same for both cylinders.

It will be appreciated that various changes and modifications may be made in the device as shown in the drawing, and that the same is submitted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In an engine, a plurality of angularly related pistons, a drive shaft, a cam thereon engaged with the pistons to rotate the drive shaft upon reciprocation of the pistons, and means independent of said cam and including a rotary member and connecting rods interengaging the rotary member with the pistons, the rotary meme her having a different speed of rotation than the cam and limiting the travel of the piston at an end of its stroke, and the pistons being otherwise independent of each other. I v

2. In an engine, a plurality of angularly related pistons, a drive shaft, a cam thereon engaged with the pistons to rotate the drive shaft upon reciprocation of the pistons, and means for limiting the travel of each piston at an end of its stroke, said means having a different cycle speed than the time for a rotation of the drive shaft and being adapted to assume the momentum of each piston at an end of its stroke independently of the drive shaft, and the different pistons being otherwise independent'of each other. v 3. In an engine, a plurality of'angularly related reciprocatory pistons, a drive shaft, a duplex cam rotating the drive shaft, and means operating with but independent of the drive shaft for assuming the momentum of each piston at both ends of the piston stroke without impact on the drive-shaft, and the pistons being otherwise independent of each other. a

5. A device including a plurality of angularly related pistons, a drive shaft, a duplex cam thereon, said cam being interengaged with each piston to cause one rotation oi the drive shaft for two reciprocatlons of the piston, and separate means for limiting the travel of each piston at an end of its stroke, said means having a complete cycle of operation for one reciprocation of a piston, and said means being slightly resilient to yieldably control each pisto and the-pistons being otherwise independent of each other.

6. In an engine, a plurality of angularly reciprocatory pistons, a drive shaft, a duplex cam thereon, means including rollers interengaging the cam and the pistons, said rollers being movable continuously along the periphery of the cam, and crank means independent of but driven by the drive shaft at a speed different than that of the latter, and connecting rods interconnecting said crank means and said rollers, the crank means having an axis below the drive shaft and in the plane of travel of the pistons, and the connecting rods having offset portions to clear the drive shaft, with the pistons being otherwise independent of each other.

GERARD NUESEIL. 

